Neon Fundraise enables organizations to allow any donor (or administrator) to submit a match on an ongoing campaign, thereby spurring more donation activity from subsequent donors. Below is a deep dive into how matching works on Neon Fundraise.
Configuring Your Site
Locate the donation matching setting in the Admin under Forms > Donation Settings > Match Settings, called "Enable Donation Match Form". This setting controls whether the match form is accessible on the front end by all users (at {{Campaign.URL}}/donate/match), as well as whether fundraising pages display a "Match My Page" widget that links to the match form. This setting is enabled by default, but if you want to enable matching for a limited number of sites, you can turn this setting off within the entity system as necessary.
Additionally, a "Promote Matches" widget appears in Site Builder that invites users to create matches, promotes any active matches with the match multiplier to encourage donors to take advantage of the match, or counts down to any future scheduled matches. Administrators can enable this widget via Site Builder as they would any other widget, and can modify the content under Website > Customize > "Widget Text - Donation Matching - Campaign Homepage". Click here to learn more.
The Match Form
The first step for donation matching is for a matcher or administrator to submit a match. On the front end, users can submit matches through the match form, which prompts users to:
- Select which goal or fundraising page to match (can be the entire campaign, a team page, or a personal fundraising page)
- Determine a start and end date for their match
- Date is entered in the campaign's defined time zone.
- Identify a maximum total amount to match (required for prepaid matches)
- Determine what to do with the potential remainder — the difference between the actual matched amount and the maximum, if any. The remainder can either be refunded back to the matcher or donated to the campaign as a general donation.
- Fill out their personal and payment information
- Submit to create their match
Click here to learn more about how donors can create matches.
Administrators can create matches via the Admin, under Transactions > Matches > Add Match. The Admin match form has many more options to choose from than those on the front end. Click here to learn more about how administrators can create matches.
Post Match Creation
Once the match is created, the matcher receives an email confirming the transaction. In addition, the fundraisers (and teams) whose pages are being matched also receive emails informing them of the match so that they can promote the match to their networks. These automated emails are available in the Admin, under Email > Automated Emails > Match Emails. They can be modified, activated, and deactivated like other system emails.
Administrators also receive a notification email for newly created matches. Administrators can track the status of active and inactive matches in the Admin, under Transactions > Matches. They can also report on matches in the Donation Matches report.
Users can view the matches they created in the user profile section, under Payments > Matches, and the match payment transactions appear in their Transactions list.
Promoting Active Matches
Campaigns that have active matches display widgets in various places so as to promote any active matches to users and encourage them to take advantage of the match while their donation is matched:
- The homepage "Match" widget (referenced in "Configuring Your Site" above)
- On fundraising pages, a widget in the sidebar
- On the donation page, a widget above the form
In addition, while entering their donation amount in the donation form, the effective amount will be displayed alongside the donation amount, so the donor knows the full impact of their donation.
Donating
All donations that are submitted or created while a match is active for a given goal are matched. These include donations submitted through the platform or global donation form, recurring donations, and offline donations. When a donation is submitted or created, the system automatically generates a matching donation in the match amount, applied to the same goal as the original donation. In this way, all goals and tallies are calculated automatically and naturally, following the donations that are assigned to them.
In some contexts, the matching donation is not displayed as a distinct donation record, and instead the matching amount is added to the amount of the original matched donation and the total displayed as the effective amount.
- In donation emails — including those for donors, fundraisers, and administrators, both the initial donation amount and effective amounts are displayed.
- In recent donations widgets on the homepage and fundraising pages, the effective amount is displayed on the matched donation. These donations also display information about their matchers.
- In donation reports, matched and matching donations are listed separately. Matching donations reference their matched donation as well as their match object.
- In donor portal, matched and matching donations are listed separately. Matched donations are indicated with an icon and are filterable. Matching donations are listed as type "Pledge" and are indicated in the expanded record as "Fulfilled" or "Unfulfilled", depending on whether the match is complete and settled.
In the Fundraiser Dashboard
Matching donations for which a given fundraiser was the recipient show up in that fundraiser's donation reports in their fundraiser dashboard. However, all matching donations are nested under the donation that they matched, making it easier for the fundraiser to track which donations are which. The fundraiser can send a thank you email to the matcher just like any other donor, but only once per matcher (they can trigger the email from any matching donation record from that matcher).
End of a Match
A match ends on its end date, when it reaches its limit (like the maximum is reached), or is ended by an administrator. When this happens, the final matched amount is charged to the matcher's card on file. If the total matched amount is less than the maximum match amount the user entered (if any), and they opted to donate the remainder, their card will be charged the full maximum amount and the remainder will be processed as a general donation. (If the matcher prepaid their maximum match amount and opted not to donate the remainder, the remainder will be refunded to their card.)
The matcher receives an email that the match has ended with a summary of the match listed. All references to the active match on the website no longer appear. If this was the only active match, widgets and live effective amounts will no longer appear. If there are other active matchers, widgets and live effective amounts will be modified to exclude the ended match. In either case, past donations that were matched by a currently ended match will continue to display their effective amount and match information.
Ended matches may not be deleted unless they have been prepaid and no matching donations are associated with the match. Administrators can report on matches in the "Donation Matches" report. Administrators can also report on matched donations in the "Matched Donations" report. Click here for more on managing and tracking matches.
Matchers can view their matches in the donor portal, under Payments > Matches.